Steak Club 7 Offical NON-NYC Top 3 list

SC7 Photos

If there’s one thing that New York does right, above all others, it’s the traditional New York Steakhouse. Sure you can get a steak anywhere in the great U.S. of A. but no one and I mean no where, does it quite like an old school NY Steakhouse. America’s first fine dining restaurant EVER is Delmonico’s Steakhouse, which is still proudly open in the Financial District. I mean hey, what other city / state has a cut of steak named after it?!? (NY STRIP). It’s because we love them, we started Steak Club 7.

But after 6 some years of monthly Steak adventures, it feels like we’ve seen ’em all and while we love ’em, we’re here to eat steak…any where we can get it!! When the suggestion for Landmarc came up, I raised an eyebrow. You mean that fancy-schmancy new world kitchen that’s located in the Time-Warner Center? Nope, Box said “just trust me on this” and told us to meet at their Tribecca location. I’ve lived here since 1996 and I remember when this block was a dump hole. Funny to think it’s now chic and trendy. Regardless, the “bistro fare” offering Italian meets French cuisine modern lounge known as Landmarc was about to be invaded by 4 of New York’s most notorious meat mavens.

The first thing I noticed (after the tightly packed dinner floor) was the grill placed against the back wall of the dining room. While Landmarc does have and uses a full kitchen, the steaks are all cooked, on display, right in the dining room. Any skepticism I was holding onto about the place melted away, much like the fat that was juicing their beef on the grill.

Moments after unfolding the Landmarc menu, my eyes started to spin and my brain started doing flip-flops. Normally at a SC7 gathering it’s the same thing, meaty apps, salad, steak, potatoes & greens, which I totally love but I could tell this was not going to be an easy choice. We all made similar comments about wanting to eat EVERYTHING on the menu and that’s when the wise man known as Box let forth his brilliance; “let’s all order something different and share.” Love you buddy. All those hours that Momma Box made you spend in front of the Sesame Street sharing episodes paid off.

We started with the smoked mozzarella & ricotta fritters fried zucchini & spicy tomato sauce. I’m not a zucc’er but love me some fried anything.

There’s a reason why the first thing on the menu after soup is roasted marrow bones onion marmalade & grilled country bread, because it a house specialty. I’m super iffy on bone marrow especially since the last time Steak Club 7 had it, we all woke up the next morning feeling terrible. Box insisted I dig it in, claiming the Landmarc to be his favorite marrow in the city. Damn Box! You ain’t lying!! The bone marrow was creamy, savory and uber delicious. I guess everywhere else I’ve eaten it just add gads and gads of salt because that is the perception I had in my mind. I’d go back to Landmarc, just to eat this again. WOW.

The next focus of our meat-tention was an appetizer of lamb meatballs tomatoes, whipped ricotta & mint. If you think they sound good, you should go eat them because they are better than they sound. Lamb is the new black here in NYC, showing up on menus as the new artisanal meat item but this was the first time I’d had it like this.

They offer pasta every day at Landmarc but only one per day so if it’s baked rigatoni and meatballs you’re after, don’t come on a Tuesday. We happened in on a Wednesday where the daily pasta special is bucatini all’amatriciana. You can put bacon on anything and make it better but Landmarc puts bacon in pasta and makes it awesome.

Speaking of bacon, how’s that joke go? Bacon gives me a lardon? It wouldn’t be a proper gathering of the SC7 without something bacony so I ordered a frisée salad aux lardons red wine vinaigrette. Frisee and bacon is my favorite salad, especially with black pepper and something garlicy. It’s really just a healthy disguise on something succulent and evil.

WHOA! Impromptu meat mashup! Adding the lardon from the salad onto a piece of bread with bone marrow? YEAH BABY. That’s a win.

Bring on the parade of meaty entrees! First up, a couple of delicious NY strip steaks. Cooked just a little more than I would’ve liked but with a lot of great beef flavor. The cut had a nice char on the outside but was still juicy and tender on the inside.

I really, really, really, really wanted to order a steak, I mean this is the monthly gathering of the world’s #1 steak club right? But damn, I couldn’t turn my attention away from the Landmarc Burger. As the self-proclaimed Burger Conquester, I needed to eat this and thankfully Mattywinks pulled the trigger. Covered in blue cheese, Mattywink’s favorite, this juicy bad boy was truly a handful of awesome.

We love steak. We love eating lots of it. In fact, it’s probably the only thing we actually all agree on. However, the man known as Box, loves meat and while steak falls under that category, this man truly loves all of it. His addition to the club has seen more diversity of meat added to our meals than any other member. As the orders went around, and Box asked for the steak tartare field greens & grilled country bread, I realized why he wanted us all to share. Uncooked beef. That’s what tartare means and it’s easy to server but very difficult to serve properly. I trust the man to know who does it the right way and after one bite of this unbelievable dish, I knew why Box had to have it.

Well it can’t all be about meat can it? Well maybe it can, but in the SC7 we always try to remember our greens and tonight it was an order of sautéed green beans.

If you’re looking for great steak, come to NYC. If you’re looking for a beefy-adventure, come to Landmarc. This one of my fave Steak Club 7 gatherings ever.